Conservation practitioners face the urgent and complex challenge of addressing global biodiversity threats within social-ecological systems with multiple jurisdictions, numerous interest groups, and changing environmental conditions. More efficient and effective conservation requires bridging the research to implementation gap between scientists and managers and integrating diverse perspectives that better represent the variety of considerations impacting management outcomes. Avian conservation programs along the U.S. Gulf Coast exemplify these challenges since declining coastal bird populations face diverse threats and uncertainty surrounding efficacy of large-scale management strategies due to their wide breeding and migratory ranges. In continuation of the Gulf Avian Monitoring Network’s (GoMAMN) co-produced efforts, we assembled a multi-state and -organizational team of scientists and resource managers to apply co-production principles and Structured Decision Making (SDM) to develop high-priority research questions most likely to improve effective avian conservation and management. The integration of SDM’s five-step framework ensured key principles of co-production were met, while co-production enhanced SDM outcomes by incorporating diverse perspectives and knowledge bases. As part of SDM, we also applied Constructed Value of Information (CVoI) which allowed participants to collectively determine final high priority research questions in the face of complexity and uncertainty. The resulting research questions, currently being pursued under NOAA RESTORE funding, included the following: 1) what is the relative efficacy of various stewardship techniques and intensities implemented during different phases of the breeding season and across a range of socio-ecological conditions? and 2) are community-wide education and outreach campaigns effective supplements to on-the-ground stewardship to alter human behaviors? Our study demonstrates how co-production through SDM and CVoI offer a broadly applicable approach for navigating ecological complexity and bridging the research–implementation gap in avian conservation.